Here’s To Midterms~
As I’m posting this from the EMU computer lab, I see quite a few students around, generally either studying for midterms or on Facebook. Truly the story of our generation. Anyway, if your midterms are anything like mine and involve a stunning number of formulas and equations, I would like to recommend the self-titled “computational knowledge engine”, Wolfram|Alpha, to any of you who may not have heard of it. You can access it at http://www.wolframalpha.com/ and from there simply plug in anything you might need to know. If you’re in business then it knows dozens of things about calculating annuities and all that jazz; if you’re struggling through any kind of algebra then it can solve entire equations (i.e. punch in something like x^2 + 7x – 10 = 42 and it’ll solve for x).
Obviously using the thing to solve all your homework problems is not that good of an idea, but knowing what the answer is can be pretty helpful. Think of it like bare-bones Wikipedia articles: it just has the crunchy bits you want, and none of that gristle. Once again, http://www.wolframalpha.com/, because seriously the thing is pretty boss.
Wolfram Alpha is the shit.
P.S. Type in the query: “estimated average cruising airspeed of an unladen African swallow”
We wondered how long it would take you students to find this. Now that you have, the faculty will make all your exams much harder.
PS, there’s also an iPhone app. But it won’t help you on the final now.